Lisa and I have made a very serious life decision.
After a little over a month of working our butts off in Chiang Mai we are ready to TRAVEL!
Don’t get me wrong: we’re still not really willing to make any PLANS, but we have what I would call ‘an outline of a notion of an approach to what we’re going to do for the next little while.’ In my former corporate life, this sort of thing was referred to as a ‘Strategic Plan.’
Our Strategic Plan (It’s Not Actually a Strategic Plan)
Ok, so we got to Chiang Mai ready to work and grow our business and expand our revenue streams. Mission freaking accomplished. After spending our days this month focused on work Lisa has several new products moving from ideation to samples to production. I have scratched the surface of SEO and social media.
Meanwhile, it’s getting smoky in Chiang Mai. Originally, I had poo-pooed the whole ‘burning season’ as a lot of overblown whinging. But it’s for real. And there is NO WAY I am going to walk around in a 3M filtered mask all day to avoid coughing up a lung every morning. This mug is way too pretty to hide away!
So it’s time for some fast travel.
But, alas, we are still waiting on a few product samples to be shipped from China, so we need to stay near Chiang Mai for another week.
So, to scratch our immediate travel bug bite, we booked bus tickets to Chiang Rai for the weekend. We had never heard of Chiang Rai until we arrived in Chiang Mai. But lots of folks here have said it’s worth a visit, so we’re going to check it out for a couple days.
We’ve also booked AirAsia tickets to Hanoi, Vietnam for a week from now. By then burning season will be in full force, Lisa’s samples will have arrived and been examined and our lease at Kantary Hills will end.
We booked a couple nights at a guest house in Hanoi so we can get our bearings.
This is where things get a bit…um…fuzzy.
We’re thinking Halong Bay. Then maybe Da Nang? I mean: DEFINITELY Da Nang. Probably.
Aaaaaand Bali. Definitely Bali. For maybe sure!
Also, our friend and my blog consultant Mike and his family are going to be in Australia at the beginning of April. And one of my BFFs James is an expat there, so that seems like something that should maybe happen. Melbourn. Sydney. Both?
Fiji after that?
And we DEFINITELY want to maybe make it to Canton Fair Phase 3 in Guangzhou, China in early May to do more product development.
We am So SMART!
As you can see, we have clearly laid out our strategic plan goals using the SMART principle:
Specific (simple, sensible, significant): We are going to travel a lot for the next little while.
Measurable (meaningful, motivating): We will likely go to somewhere between, like, 3 and 10 places.
Achievable (agreed, attainable): We are both pretty sure we can make this work!
Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based): I mean, come on, man, this all sounds pretty cool, right!
Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive): We need to make it to Jordan’s dance recital in Pennsylvania by May 30. Boom! Time boxed!
Bottom Line
I’ve always said: the only thing more exciting than making a strategic plan is executing it.
Comments 4
Did you check with derek on his fav spots in that part of the world? Ask him for his top 10 spots for unique places / things.
I had a long chat with Derek a couple weeks ago. Hopefully he is following along and we can meet up if our paths cross…but I believe he was headed to Laos.
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